Giro Women's 3/4 Legging Pockets

The Giro Women's 3/4 Legging Pockets are a quality pair of tights, if rather pricey, in the  just-below-the-knee style that's perennially popular with women riders.

The first thing I noticed about the Giro Women's 3/4 Legging Pockets was, well, the pockets, which are in a matt stretch woven fabric. Granted, pockets are useful, but if you put anything in these it would give a most unsightly bulge, and most women I know would prefer to keep as svelte a silhouette as possible and not draw attention to their thighs. There's no doubting you could easily carry all sorts in them, such as your phone, but I chose not to.

They are constructed from just a front and rear panel on each side (plus waistband), which keeps potentially irritating seams to a minimum. The silky Lycra fabric feels nicely supportive without being restrictive, and doesn't snag easily on Velcro. It's fairly thin though so these are definitely for milder days. The wide waistband is comfortable and sits low, below the belly button, so there's no digging in. However, it is not cut sufficiently high at the rear to cover your lower back, which I think is a drawback.

Read more: Reviews of shorts and 3/4s on road.cc.

The legs reach to just below my knee (I'm not the model in the photos). I could pull them down to my calves but the lack of any hem gripper and the relative looseness of the material at the bottom of the legs meant they immediately rode up. Maybe if you have wide calves they might stay lower, but seeing as these are summer leggings the length isn't an issue anyway.

I was impressed by the triple density CyTech chamois. It has plenty of cushioning under the sit bones but isn't too thick in the middle, where I find padding just gets in the way and often increases rather than relieves pressure on your sensitive areas. It isn't too obtrusive either so you don't look or feel like you're walking around with a nappy on, and the front of the pad especially is discreetly sewn in. However, off the bike when walking around I felt I needed to keep pulling them up as the crotch slipped down a little. Once riding though there was no such problem.

As far as visibility goes, there is reflective piping on each outside seam reaching from the pocket to the hem, and the Giro logo on the left pocket is also reflective '' more useful if you're riding in the US or the Continent than the UK.

All in all these are good tights, but for this kind of money I'd expect them to be perfect.

Verdict

Comfortable lightweight leggings with a good chamois but low-rise back